Tag: beliefs

The “rule of three” is a common feature in communication. It’s found for example in literature and writing in general, rhetoric and public speaking, and the art of comedic delivery. (And there it is again, in that sentence!) The Latin phrase “omne trium perfectum” (every set of three is complete/perfect) conveys the same idea as the rule of three. For quite some time, we have preferred things to be in threes. Now when a long-held belief system—one that appears so obviously “right” as to be unquestionable—shows signs of uncertainty in the human psyche, the rule of three often comes in to help us take notice of its predicament.

Do you fear for the world and its children—in light of the horrendous acts of violence committed by religious fundamentalists?

Have you lost faith in your Faith—in view of the latest and historic abuse carried out by those entrusted with the care of our children?

Why do we create such abhorrent events for ourselves? What makes us perpetuate such violent acts, and how should we respond to violence in order to remove it from our co-created reality?

The quick answer to the why, is that we are creating such events in order that we do something about one of our most pernicious beliefs entrenched within our collective psyche—that, as individuals, we believe we are disempowered.

The historic and still pervasive abuse of children, spouses, other life forms, and the Earth itself, together with the escalating acts of terrorism, might suggest that we are all off to “hell in a handcart.” This may well be the case if we do not deal with the beliefs we hold that can no longer be part of our psychological structure. Violent events are created by the disempowered. For violence to diminish in our reality, we must first address the belief that our individual power has no worth. [bctt tweet=”Co-created, painful “mass events” always tell us to examine and question our belief systems.”]

Caught on a street surveillance camera shortly after their attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices, two of the terrorists proclaimed, “The Prophet Muhammad has been avenged!” They were inferring that staff at Charlie Hebdo had violated the Prophet in some way and had now been “punished” in accordance with Islamic Law. Apparently, their “offense” was the unlawful depiction (a satirical cartoon) of the Prophet Muhammad on the cover of their magazine.

Interestingly, a little research will tell you that nowhere in the original historic Islamic Law is there a single edict or decree that prohibits pictorial imagery of the Prophet. More recent “fatwas” issued by the Taliban (published online in 2001) may have given rise to this mythical new law, when they decreed that all non-Islamic statues and shrines in Afghanistan be destroyed. You might suppose that a cartoon drawing of the Prophet might just fall under the description of “non-Islamic artwork,” however, as it would be impossible to destroy all copies of the artwork, do the artists themselves need to be destroyed? Apparently so, in the minds of the extremists involved. Accord to them, the Prophet Muhammad would condone their actions and reward them in the afterlife.

To those of us with less fanatical Islamic sensibilities, we are left deeply saddened, perplexed, and angry over the spurious logic concocted to support their murderous acts.

My 95-year-old mother-in-law has a phrase she uses for when she thinks you are making fun of her – “Are you poking Charlie at me?” – she will say. It probably originated as a latter-day distortion of the verbally less genteel “poke bogey,” a colloquialism for “poking fun” in use at the turn of the 20th Century. Charlie Hebdo has a long history of poking Charlie at religious and political institutions. Satirical journalism is what the Charlie Hebdo magazine is all about. But is satire good for us, even if it offends another’s beliefs?

The answer to the above question is ‘yes’—as I will explain later in this three-part post. First though, let’s look into the reaction of the majority of human beings to this Parisian Mass Event other than the initial abhorrence.

Much of the furor in response to the events in Paris of the last week revolves around the issue of “Freedom of Speech,” or as the French have it, “Liberté d’expression.” This post goes into the spiritual origins of this issue and how our Freedom of Expression is a sacrosanct principle underpinning our existence in the physical world. In the spirit of the theme of this Blog, I will also attempt to uncover the deeper message contained within this and other “acts of terrorism” of late as it pertains to our Shift in consciousness.